A few questions before I buy this game

[ToeTag]

This is one of the coolest concepts for a game that I've come across, but I do have some questions:

- How long are the average missions? I've read anywhere from 1 to 5 (!!!) hours.

- What is there to do during transit to the mission area? Make a sandwich, check the news, etc, or are there game-related activities?

- Will there be any hands-on tutorials? I read through the game manual, and while it's informative, I gotta admit that I learn a lot better with some hands-on/interactive instruction. I understand the devs have a lot on their plates, but it would be great for new players to have a walk-through for some of the more complicated tasks. I'd love to operate the TDC and hydrophone, but geez both seem like a lot of learning to master. Maybe an interactive tutorial is asking a bit much, but I'm very hesitant to join a crew without being able to find/fix/target enemy ships.

Regardless of whether I buy it or not, I wish both the devs and players the best with this game. Like I said, it's a really cool game concept.

[Liquid]

Yes 1 to 5 ours is accurate. My missions last 3-4 hours, but I assure you the time will fly if you're taking data, positioning your uboat and going unnoticed.

This, game, like any other uboot simulator, starts slow, but everything get frenetic in a small portion of time where your preparation is the key.



There are no games related activities, feel free to take a book like in real life, unless you are in the bridge.


You may add me as friend, I've teached an half dozens of people already. The manual isn't the tutorial, you will need to take info googling it - didn't you ask for something to do while transits? :)

[TommyGuns]

Just bought the sim yesterday. It ain't a game to me. (I kid, I kid)
Anyway, I'd say the missions probably average about two hours from what little I've seen and a little educated guessing.
I'm sure if you did a long end around it could take many hours.
I think the submarine, once launched, is independent of the crew. It seems if one guy stays on the boat at all times, you could leave the game and come back in an hour or two and rejoin the boat. A blue and gold crew! Man, that could have possibilities for submarine simmers.

You are IN the mission area as soon as the simulator starts. You appear in the rear of the control room between the compressor and the bilge pump. The submarine was always on the surface at night in my tests, and it is dark in the middle of the ocean. Unless a target ship has lights, I see no way other than hydrophones to find anything once the sun goes down. Opaque dark. Even with the full moon. Realistic.

Unlike the Silent Hunter series, you are managing a subsurface vessel as much as you are seeking out targets. In Silent Hunter you hit a button and the computer tells you your submarine is diving. In Wolfpack, you close the induction vent (stop the diesel engines),close voice tube on bridge, flood forward and aft ballast, flood negative, set fore and aft dive planes to dive, monitor and conntrol your down angle. Blow negative while the sea pressure is not too great. Close forward and aft ballast tank vents. Continually monitor dive planes for depthkeeping. Getting to and staying at periscope depth is a challenge in itself. It models the exact problems submariners had in this era with depthkeeping. Really brilliant simulation.
Now that you've got her below the surface, you have to watch the bilge. At depth, the water is always niggling it's way in through the nooks and crannies of the hull. Water is weight.
The bilge pump blows the water overboard with compressed air, similar to the ballast tank operation. Wasting air is not a good thing. At depth I've found I do not have enough air for an emergency blow. Plenty of air for peaceful ops however. I haven't found out how the air supply holds up under attack conditions. The dive planes and forward motion is really the best, and only way for depthkeeping in my opinion. I've found trying to "trim the boat" with only the three tanks provided is tricky. It's really fun to mess with the valves and watch the gauges and get a feel for your boat though. It is really immersive man. The audio the entire time you are working is excellent. The boat tilts realistically and in tune with your inputs. Just awesome to see.
The graphics are great. I'm running the game on a Pavilion notebook and have no issues.
The discord voice app needed for voice chat with other players is clunky as all hell and chokes my rig though. Also, I was cutting in and out on discord while playing with some guys from Europe (shout out to lobottomie!). Maddening man.



You can get in the boat and run it yourself. I did for a while before eagerness won the day and I joined some boats. Trust me, there are a lot of clueless sailors out there. You'll see people doing a lot of walking around and fiddling on some boats. On others, they were being pinged by sonar.
They were a bit busy so I left. Getting on a boat yourself helps you familiarize yourself with the simulator. Training: Learn it. Love it. Live it.

Now son, we're going to have to have a frank discussion at this point:
This is a submarine simulator. Submarines were complicated pieces of engineering to begin with, then we factor in navigation, the sea itself, weather, and combat operations.
This is Wolfpack. Arguably, this is not only a submarine simulator, it is nothing less than a tribute to all submariners throughout history!
You OWE it to these men and women to study every piece of information you can get your hands on related to your boat. You will not get your Dolphins till you can master every station on the ship. This is your chance to finally show the world you are not a Cheeto eating gamer.
You're a submarine simmer. A gamer with a massive brain.
Kidding aside, this is the best submarine simulator I've ever seen. I've played probably every
sub simulator out there since the days when I owned an IBM 486. SH4, heavily modded on my super-rig was my favorite for years.
Wolfpack is a simulator my man. I know the stations seem intimidating at first. Believe me, even an armchair submariner like me dreaded learning some of the more complicated techniques used to accurately launch torpedoes. Very rewarding once you master it however.
Study the O'Kane method when using the TDC. Feels good to aim at the smokestack from 3000 yards and hit EXACTLY where you were aiming. It's really not that hard. 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration. So much truth to that. Just knuckle down and tell yourself you need to learn the nav map. After a while things will come to you.
Sorry if I seem to be talking down to you Grasshopper. I just feel your pain. I have empathy.
And I want to see a lot of competent guys out there to sim with.
Another thing--I foresee people becoming niche players. Some guys will be TDC geniuses who can come up with a firing solution quickly. Other guys will be navigators who can quickly plot intercept courses without getting us killed.


Need I go on?
You are helping the developers by buying the game man. Helping them buy a second Ferrari and keeping them happy is probably the only way you will get your tutorial.
Thanks pal.

[Gizmo]

I would say those mission times are about right yea... but I feels like 30 mins lol.. get a decent crew and you are golden and will have some great fun....

Yes there is down time but it's a sim .. plus you got the rest of crew to chat with and someone always has a question.....

As regards learning the game.. I have taught people who just downloaded the game in an hour..... yes 1 hour..... the basics are pretty simple.. sure after an hour your not going to be the best of crew but you know where everything is... how it works and why you need to do x y z, after which you should be able to join most crews and do a decent job... then it's just experience...

Now when it comes to Navigation and TDC ... it can be as complex as you want it to be... they need a little more time to learn but the basics can be tied down in a couple of days.. after that the learning curve goes up quite a bit. But like I said ... you get as complex as you want to..

Don't be scared by what's there.. you can learn it all surprising quickly.... feel free to add me and I would be glad to help you through the breaking in phase and having the time of your life 👍😃

[ToeTag]

A belated thank you for the encouraging and insightful answers. It sounds like a blast with a good crew.

Unfortunately after purchasing the game, I spent 114 minutes over the last 5 days unsuccessfully trying to get it to run on my laptop. Due to Steam's (very generous and understandable) refund policy, I requested a refund before reaching the two hour time limit. This is the first Steam refund I've requested, and the first Steam game that hasn't run on my computer.

Hope you lucky folks enjoy the game, and you may see me in the future. In the meantime, I might finally commit a little time to finally finishing the academy in SH III and starting a career.